GM Trajko Nedev Takes Summer Cup

11th-18th of July in the 5-star resort of Porto Carras, Greece

The 5th Summer Cup chess tournament was held on 11th-18th of July in the beautiful 5-star resort of Porto Carras, Halkidiki, Greece. This was a wonderful opportunity for players and families to take advantage of the chess package offered by the organizers and combine relaxed vacation with friendly chess tournament.

After nine rounds of play according to Swiss pairings, GM Trajko Nedev of FYROM justified his position of the top-seeded player and won the event by collecting 7.5 points. Greek player Kleanthis Vafiadis, who maintained excellent playing level throughout the tournament, and WGM Anastazia Karlovich, skillfully taking advantage of every presented opportunity, shared the second place with 7.0 points each.

Kleanthis Vafiadis

WGM Anastazia Karlovich

Panayotis Papadopoulos

Panayotis Papadopoulos, who turns 14 next week, and Achileas Spirliadis, emerging from lower ranks with furious finish, shared the 4th place with a total of 6.5 points. Papadopoulos was one of the revelations of the tournament. He played extremely well, withstanding the pressure from more experienced opposition, and in result earned 60 rating points.

Another pleasant surprise was 11-years old attacking champ Nicola Capone from Belgium, who finished with 6.0 points. His tactical skills and calmness in extreme situations are astonishing. With a little more experience and better defence he would be set to reach the stardom. Carrying a big friendly smile, the language barrier (he speaks only French) did not prevent him from making many new friends in Porto Carras.

Nicola Capone

After daily rounds of swimming, sunbathing and chess, party fanatics explored nightlife in nearby Neos Marmaras. But the main highlight was the Kings & Queens Party which was organized by the tournament office in the club Plato. Chief arbiter Andreas Kontokanis has a large photo gallery uploaded to Flickr.

Final standings are bellow, see also round seven report and visit the official website for more information. Porto Carras will be a host to the World Youth Chess Championships in October 2010.

The luxury Porto Carras Grand Resort is situated in an enchantingly verdant landscape in Halkidiki, Northern Greece. Set like a gem in 1763(!) hectares (17 million sq. m.!) of incredibly beautiful grounds, it is a paradise of green, fringed by seemingly endless sandy beaches, in fact 9 kilometers of them(!), punctuated by more than 25 little coves where the pine trees sweep right down to the water’s edge.

Located 110 km (75 minutes drive) south of the international airport of Thessaloniki, the Porto Carras Grand Resort includes in its 1763 hectares three hotel divisions, each in a different style, a casino, an ultra-modern thalassotherapy centre and spa, an international-standard 18-hole golf course, a private 315-berth marina, a 5,000 seat convention centre and Greece’s largest organic vineyard.